How many weeks do you ferment, typically?

For your ales 1.070 or lower, that is. Include entire fermenting time, primary + secondary, etc.

Just curious to see how this breaks down around here.

 

I ferment, til the beer's finished fermenting. That's not something I have any control over, I'm not in charge of it, the yeasts are, and they have their own schedule. They don't read recipes, and don't care if they make an airlock blip...they just do their job for however long it takes.

I leave the beer alone, however for a month typically. And that either works out to being, for 99% of my beers 1 month in primary. The remainder of my beers, if I am adding fruit or something and choosing to rack to a secondary, sually go in to secondary for 2 weeks after two weeks.

THen they go into bottles for carbing and conditioning, and again I don't have any control of the process, that's the yeast's job...but generally speaking it's about 3-4 weeks for typical beers.

So for my "normal" beers it is about 8 weeks from grain to glass.

 

2 weeks for me. 1 week in primary, 1 week in secondary, keg.

 

I agree with Revvy on this one. Fermentation my take more or less time depending on ingredients, temp, yeast, etc. Generally I'm around the 4 week mark, but I've done a couple beers that were good to bottle/keg in half that time too. It really depends on the beer.

 

10-14 days primary
3-5 cold crash
1 day 30psi carb
5-7 days carb at serving pressure
start tasting, but it usually takes another 2 weeks before I consider it really ready for drinking, though I do make exceptions.

 

At minimum 3 weeks but often I let them stay and bulk age to a month. I've let beers ride it out for 2-3 months before bottling for further aging.

 

I assume the question is how long from brewing to bottling or kegging.

My average is 4 weeks, some longer, some shorter. This does not include any sours or bretts.

 

You get it!

 

2 wks ales, 5 wks lagers (includes d-rest and lagering period). Bigger beers get a bit more. 1 month in bottles is ideal.

I'm really not into the mystical yeast cult. Making beer is like clockwork for me. It is VERY predictable. I pwn yeast There, now I'm doomed.

 

Normally between 3-4 weeks in primary, no secondary. Montanaandy

 

I have been doing a 3 week primary. But then I had two beers that I just couldn't get to bottling that were in the fermentor for 5 weeks, and they have been the clearest, quickest conditioning beers that I have made so far. So now I am trying 4 weeks in primary. I will see what happens.

 

Two week or so primary then bottle. The secondary and D-rest take place in the bottle.

 

It really depends upon the beer, and what life throws my way. Average gravity beers I usually give 3-4 weeks, bigger beers generally get 6, if not more. That's more than is necessary, but I often find myself putting off bottling if I can, as it's such a chore.

 

Interesting. I've always waited 4 weeks but I think I am going to try 3 from now on (all my beers are less than 1.070).

 

depends how lazy Im feeling. If I need beer ASAP I'll keg it @ 12 days. I have a brown that been "chillin" in the fridge for 3 weeks now. I suppose I'll keg today.

I guess thats the beauty of brewing at home. I'll keg it when I get around to it.

 

3 weeks, typically. I did 4 week ferments for a while and then tried 3, I don't notice a difference (althought I've not done a side to side to be 100% sure).

 

With the beers I brew it's usually 3 weeks and then to the keg.

 

What is with all the people who ferment for 3-4 weeks? If you have pitched enough yeast and have proper temperature, an ale around 1.070 will be at FG easily in 4-5 days at the most. Then another couple days for yeast to clean themselves up and you should be done. I let it go 2 weeks max with ales. Sure, you can leave it in there for a little while longer if you don't have time to rack and such, but I can assure you if it is still "fermenting" you have done something wrong(with very few yeast exceptions.)

I have done quite a few 1.060-1.080 beers and I check gravity everday after the first and they are all at FG within 4-5 days. Even my lagers are at FG withing 7-10 days. You only need a few days for the yeast to clean up after themselves. Kegging, you should be able to go grain to glass in about 3 weeks for most average ales. If you find you are needing more time for "conditioning" then you are really just waiting for off flavors to mellow. I have had 70+ IBU IPA's kegged and ready in under 3 weeks.

 

I'm bumping this poll since the topic has come up so much lately.

 

# weeks minimum, then I check it. offten it end up being anywhere from 3-6 weeks.

 

1 week for primary (anywhere from 5-9 days typically), then secondary for 2 weeks (1 week for some like hefeweizens, 4 weeks+ for belgians), then bottle. So usually 3 weeks from pitching to bottle.

 

Depends on the beer. I've turned over beers in 5 days. 7 days with dry hopping. I've found most of my beers are fermented to completion in 2-3 days. I also use s-04 so it clears up fast. However, in most cases it's 2 weeks from brewing to bottling/kegging.

 

One week primary, one week secondary, one week keg conditioning. It's drinkable after two weeks but it's better after a week in the keg.

 

I generally try not to move out of the primary for 3 weeks, then bottle/keg. I'll move to secondary after two weeks if I need the primary for the next brew, but I won't touch it before 2 weeks. I like to let kegs hangout for a week before going in the keezer, just because I can. Sounds like I need to finally get a third primary.

 

Have you tried a longer primary to see if you get a better beer?

 

Almost always 2 weeks unless it's a really big beer, then 3 weeks. Almost all my average ales are done within a few days but I just let 'em go 2 weeks because I usually intend to wash/reuse the yeast and prefer to rack/wash the yeast exactly one day before I plan to use it. I agree with MachineShop that if it's taking longer than a few days for an average ale, something is amiss (although I never check gravity until I keg it, pretty easy to tell when it's done without checking gravity). My ferments are more like what passedpawn said, very consistent/predictable.

 

+1,000! I have the exact same experience. But the key to this is proper fermentation. Pitching rates, oxygen, temp control, etc... If your off in your process you can use extra time as a crutch to get your beer back on track.

 

For ale, it's 4-3-2.

4 Weeks in primary. 3 weeks in a keg at basement temps. 2 weeks at 38f on gas.

I don't like green beer. I find that almost without exception, normal gravity beers lose the green tang at about 8 weeks.

 

How would you describe "green tang?" I have made beers grain to glass in 3 weeks with a dry hop and never experienced anything I would call a "green" flavor.

 

Most beers I leave for 10-14 days anyway, usually because I am busy/lazy to rack them. I have left a few for 4 weeks and didn't really see any difference that would have come from the longer time spent in the fermenter.

I have won medals at comps with beers that I racked in 10 days, and never scored lower than a 36.

 

If it is taking your beer 8 weeks to lose the green tang (uncertain what you mean by this) it appears that there may be a problem with your procedures. A 9 week turn around is unnecessary. Montanaandy

 

I fully agree.

Perhaps this "tang" is acetaldehyde. This is naturally produced by the yeast in the early stages of fermentation and then broken down into ethanol by the yeast during the later stages of fermentation. It has a cidery, green apple flavor. If you have good healthy yeast and properly manage the temps you should not have acetaldehyde in the beer. If your process is lacking you will need to give the yeast extra time to break down the acetaldehyde.

Same goes for diacetyl.

 

When the beer reaches its intended final gravity and clarity is acceptable. If you'd like to decrease the time required in the primary, increase your pitching rate (without overpitching--not likely to be a risk).

 

2 weeks most of the time for me. It's a good compromise for yeast to clean up and good clarity without waiting 6 months to drink my beer. I only brew ales under 1.070 atm, but this may change as I get into lagers and stouts.

Usually 1 week in the bottle, more if there is any funny business.

 

2 weeks primary 1week secondary

 

Usually 3 weeks so I don't have to check that it is done and to give enough time for it to clear. But, my pipeline is dry so the next one will be as quick as possible.

 

For typical english/american non high abv beers I do 3-4 weeks primary, two weeks keg at serving temps and under gas. Crystal clear beers every time, harvestable yeast cake, no off flavors, perfect head and carb.